Montgomery County Chapter

“I once read a magazine article of an interview of Oprah Winfrey and in it, she was talking about her best friend, Gayle King.  And Oprah said Gayle is the friend, sister, and mother everyone deserves to have.  Well, that’s Donna Van Scoy too.   We are so fortunate to have her as a leader in our Bar Association.

When I think of Donna, I think of her selflessness first.  She is always supporting others, particularly her fellow female attorneys.  She’s always there when you need her.   She’s often there when you didn’t know yet you needed help but she did.   I appreciate what a cheerleader she is.  She lets everyone else shine in their public roles while she helps behind the scenes.   But she also is the kind of true friend who is not afraid to tell you are barking up the wrong tree.

She is such a wonderful mentor to the young female attorneys coming up through the ranks.  Donna is always identifying leadership roles for younger attorneys, particularly women, and encouraging/cajoling you into believing you can lead until you finally do.  Donna will be on committees or a member of organizations that aren’t her first choice if you are at the head and she thinks you might need the support.  

Judge Callahan remarked to me that Donna’s most endearing quality is her nearly inexhaustible optimism in the face of almost no hope.  That is so spot on.  Boy, do I always want her on my lifeboat.  In no small part because she’s right about the outcome more often than not.  She puts gas in all our tanks to keep us moving forward.

Donna seems to have unlimited energy.  She can have her finger in many pots and keep them all on simmer simultaneously.    She can do more in a day than most of us can do in a week.  She’s an excellent lawyer, a great mentor and teacher, and an active participant in the Montgomery County Bar Association and the WBA.  She was on the Trial Courts Nominating Commission for years and took the job very seriously in order to help all of us have one of the best judiciaries in the state.   As her son, Christian, aptly points out, she’s the hardest working person anyone of us know.

Donna will donate her time and money to every worthy cause.  She is the engine in making sure the Bar Foundation of the Montgomery County Chapter of the WBA has money and applicants for us to award scholarships.   And she never gives me a hard time and opens her checkbook right up when I beg for us around the table to chip in our own money to give one more scholarship.

Donna understands what binds us together as a Bar Association and part of that magic is the memories we make together.  Any retirement party for a member of the bench Donna is involved in planning is exactly the type of party the retiree would like.   She has a real sense of occasion.  Whether it’s a baby shower or a work dinner or a leadership event, she thinks about how the participants and/or honoree would want to experience it and she makes it happen.   It’s just such a pleasure to be in the company of someone who genuinely cares about people.

And yet she was totally surprised we were honoring her tonight.  I know no one else is!  I also know if Oprah was an attorney, she’d want Donna on her team.  Though we all know it would really be Oprah joining Donna’s team.  Thank you, Donna, for everything you do for the Bar Association.”

-Remarks by Heather Hostetter, President (2019-2020) of the Bar Association of Montgomery County, Maryland (June 3, 2019)